Tag Archives: CFAA

A California legislator recently introduced two bills in Congress which, if passed, could have profound effects for companies seeking to pursue claims relating to trade secrets and confidential information – one bill would create a new private right of action under federal law for trade secret theft, while the other bill would appear to limit plaintiffs’ abilities to pursue existing remedies for computer fraud and abuse.

In its current form, the Economic Espionage Act allows only federal prosecutors to bring criminal trade secrets charges against persons who have stolen trade secrets. On June 20, 2013, however, Representative Zoe Lofgren (a … Continue Reading

Earlier this year, Aon Risk Services Northeast Inc. (“Aon”) brought suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Marsh USA Inc., Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (together, “Marsh”), and three former employees. In its Amended Complaint, Aon asserted that the defendants transferred a “pre-packaged book of business” to Marsh, primarily by the former employees’ “illegal downloading of Aon proprietary trade secret information.” Aon asserted a claim under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. §1030, against the three former employees, and asserted nine common law claims, including misappropriation of trade … Continue Reading

This week the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a published opinion rejecting an employer’s argument that its former employee violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1030, when he emailed company client lists and financial data to himself for personal use. LVRC Holdings LLC v. Brekka, ___ F.3d ___, 2009 WL 2928952 (9th Cir. 2009).

The Seventh Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in International Airport Centers, LLC v. Citrin, 440 F.3d 418 (7th Cir. 2006), reasoning that when an employee breaches his duty of loyalty to the employer, the agency relationship terminates and the employee … Continue Reading

Employers looking to protect their intellectual property and proprietary information, and wondering whether they can punish the departing employees that ignore demands to return laptops and other transportable electronic devices that hold such data, may now have a newly invigorated weapon at their disposal — the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. A recent federal district court decision found that an employer establishes the required “loss” and “damage” elements of a CFAA claim against a former employee by showing that such employees “refused to return their computers” when requested, that such employees “deleted information from their computers,” and that the employer … Continue Reading